Lehigh faces another road test at FDU Wednesday
9/22/2009 4:00:00 PM | Women's Soccer
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh women’s soccer team returns to the road on Wednesday in their final tune-up before Patriot League play begins next week. The Mountain Hawks (5-2-1) will head to Teaneck, N.J. to face the Knights of Fairleigh Dickinson at University Field. Lehigh has been hot as of late winning four of its last five matches overall and three straight on the road, including a thrilling 2-1 double overtime win at Monmouth on Sunday.
Senior Liz Carlos led the Mountain Hawks to victory Sunday in New Jersey with her second goal of the season in the 102nd minute. The Mountain Hawks went in front 1-0 during the 21st minute on a goal from senior Natalie Hojnacki, set up by an assist from junior Lena Cannon. Despite a good defensive effort by the Brown and White, Monmouth was able to tie the game in the second half from a long throw-in that led to a Hawk goal by Kim Malecki. The game remained tied into the second minute of the second overtime, where Carlos took a feed from sophomore Ali MacLeod and slipped the ball under the Hawk keeper to give Lehigh the victory.
Carlos and Hojnacki are tied for the team lead in scoring with seven points apiece. Hojnacki has scored a team-best three goals, while Carlos owns three assists to go with two goals.
Defensively, Lehigh’s back four, consisting of seniors Hailey Coonrad and Alex Warren inside and sophomores Leah Kulp and Jana Basubas outside has played well, allowing six goals in eight matches, while junior goalkeeper Lauren Mains has allowed multiple goals in a game just once this season.
Fairleigh Dickinson is coming off a 3-0 loss to Drexel on Sunday which dropped the Knights to 2-4 heading into Wednesdays game. The Knights are looking to stop a three match losing streak that has also included setbacks against Manhattan and Canisius. Rashidah Sherman is the leading scorer for FDU with two goals and two assists for six points. The Knights have been outscored 16-9 in six games, and three different goalkeepers have seen playing time so far this season.
Wednesday’s meeting is just the third between the two schools in women’s soccer. Lehigh won the two previous meetings, both by 1-0 scores in 2002 in 2008. Last year, Carlos scored the only goal of the match to lead Lehigh to victory in Bethlehem.
Following Wednesday’s match, Lehigh will be off for eight days before the Mountain Hawks open Patriot League play at home against defending league champion Army, October 2 at the Ulrich Sports Complex.
Game time Wednesday is set for 3 p.m. from University Field.
